Animal Acoustics
Our mission is to use and develop new technologies to understand and to conserve the earth's biological diversity through research and education.
Who we are:
Miyako Warrington, M.S.
Miya Warrington's research interests include animal behaviour and evolution of novel traits. In particular, she is interested in animal communication and bioacoustics. She received her B.Sc. in Biology specializing in Ecology and Environmental Sciences at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. She received her M.S. in Tropical Conservation Biology and Enivormental Science from the University of Hawaii at Hilo in May 2008.
Miya's interest in animal behaviour started at a young age when she was living in rural Canada where she was able to observe waterfowl, herons, eagles and other beautiful wetland bird on a regular basis. Volunteering at the Vancouver Aquarium allowed her to get her first peek into how science was done, and she quickly got involved with vegetation and bird surveys, among various other projects. Her first research project focused on looking at recognition characteristics of the feebee calls in Black-capped chickadees. Miya then proceeded into venturing into a wide array of biology sub-fields included palaentology, toxicology, fisheries and wildlife, but always coming back to the birds. Miya's intrigue for physics led her to consideration of combining the ideas and technologies with biology research. Her first published research using this approach was on flight energetic of the Marbled Murrelet, which included examining flight models. Life's adventures led Miya and her husband Ben, to Hawaii where she currently resides.
Current Projects:
Master's Thesis: Monitoring coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) populations using sound pressure levels
Miya's thesis focused on developing a new method for monitoring invasive coqui frogs, Eleutherodactylus coqui, on the Big Island, Hawai'i, using sound pressure levels. (more . . .)
Advisor:
William J. Mautz
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~mautz/
Committee:
Patrick J. Hart
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pjhart/
Cedric C. Muir
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~cmuir/
Produced using Raven 1.3 (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Cataloguing the Vocalizations of the `Alala
Miya is currently working on digitizing and analyzing vocalizations of the Hawaiian Crow, Corvus hawaiiensis. (more . . .)
Advisor:
Patrick J. Hart
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pjhart/
Collaborators:
Paul C. Banko
Donna Ball
Future Projects:
Miya has many, many ideas and ambitions to record, digitize and preserve vocalizations of Pacific Island birds. She is also interested in developing automatic recording systems to monitor birds and calling amphibians. Monitoring animals can be daunting task which is often restricted by the lack of funds and people power. Miya hopes by developing automatic recording units to acoustically monitor species, we can increase our ability to monitor ecosystems and species with our current resources.
Selected Publications:
Francis L. Benevides Jr., William J. Mautz,, and Miyako Warrington. 2007. Overnight Sound Pressure Levels of the Chorus of the Male Coqui Frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui. Herpetological Review, submitted
Elliott, Kyle; Hewett, Miyako; Kaiser, Gary; and Blake, Robert W. 2004. Flight energetics of the Marbled Murrelet, Brachyramphus marmoratus. Canadian Journal of Zoology 82: 644-652
Hewett, Miyako and Darryl T. McLeod. 2001. Status of the White Pelican on Rainy Lake, Ontario, 2001. Fort Frances District Report Series No. 50. Entered Sep 04 2001. Ontario, Canada.
Contact and More Information
email:
Links
University of Hawai'i at Hilo TCBES program